Everybody has one..... Heres a piece of MY story.

I'm not quite sure where to start but maybe it will be the beginning of this section.  Title it Taking a group of teens to a huge Nazarene Youth Conference in San Diego.  We traveled by charter bus starting from here as the last group the bus picked up at 6 in the evening and driving through the night to get to San Diego.  We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Point Loma Nazarene University and then on Monday we took the kids to Disney Land. 

The topic for the conference this year is You Are Loved as you see on the program above.

Our part of the State Quiz Team.  And when in doubt... of course JESUS.

Quizzing round.  All our guys and the head coach. 

And the end of our story for the weekend.. but yet.. its the beginning of the story.  Next installments of my story to come.

My Collections new additions

This is my collection of cookie molds.  I dont use them much but I love the way they look hanging on my walls.  I wish that I had been able to get more of the racks that you see on the right but they were discontinued before I could get more of them. 

Thse are my two newest aquisitions that came from a local antique shop.  Neither of them are actually old enough to be antiques but thats ok.  I don't have them because they are antiques, I have them because I like them. 

This sugar and creamer are the other aquisition from another booth at the "Antique Mall"  They truely are antiques and I have a few pieces of similar glassware that are inherited from my Grandmother.  My 15 year old son has done some research into some of the pieces that are in her china cabinet.  I am interested in looking for more of the green glassware such as this.  One of the things I have learned about myself over the years is that I dont like diamonds.   I dont like white walls and, apparantly, I dont like clear glass.  All of the antique things I like are colored glass. 

Thank Goodness we are all different in this world. 

Citrus Olive Oil Cake

TRYING SOMETHING NEW

 Sorry this is sideways,  I am really not good at this computer stuff.  I have a new foody related book that I am slowly going through.  It is very interesting to me as it is about HOW to shop for various foods to get the best.  It also includes some amazing recipes that I am going to try as time goes by.  I was interested in todays because it a) uses olive oil and b) it uses whole oranges and lemons, cooked in a simple syrup and then blended up completely.  The pan I used was my grandmothers and is kinda bent up, its the second time I have used it and neither time did it work out really well, so I am thinking next try I need to invest in a new pan.  I decided to post the pictures of the not really great looking cake anyway to remind myself of that book/cover thing because it TASTES AMAZING. 

This is the final product with the cut piece I tasted.  Its yummy and orangy.

 This is the cooking of the citrus in the simple syrup.  After you take them out to cool, the citrus flavored simple syrup is stored to use for my italian sodas.  How cool is that?

This is a mixture of 6 ounces of almonds that I SHOULD have roasted.  I forgot that part but it tastes great anyway.  Next time I will remember to roast them.    Then I blended them in the blender as fine as I could,  Added the flour and baking soda. 

These are the cooled citrus pieces getting ready to go into the blender to be pureed and ready to go into the mixture. 

Pureed citrus minus the seeds ready to go.  Of course I had to taste it and its really better than it sounds when you puree the entire orange and lemon.  No you don't peel them, you just cut them in quarters, make sure there are no seeds, take out any large chunks of pith. 

In the fluted pan and in the oven it goes.  This was my grandmother's pan.  It has been used a lot becuase my grandfathers favorite desert was a slice of angel food cake with half a peach on top.  I think it might have seen better days as I am more apt to blame my equipment rather than myself, haha.  You can see the extra use it has had on the outside of the pan.  The last time I used it, part of the cake mix leaked out on the bottom of my oven and burned so I put a pan underneath it this time to help catch anything that falls out.  I also put a piece of parchment cut in a circle in the bottom of the pan to try to stop leakage.  This actually worked very well as there was nothing that leaked out.  I was very glad.    

AND HERE IS THE RESULT.      

I sit here eating a slice as I work on the blog.  It is really super.  By the way, the cloth next to the cake was croched for me by a sweet sweet friend.  I am thinking that she might even like the cake as it is flavorful but not very sweet and she is not a big sweet eater.  She is a big sweety.. however. 

Low Fat Heart Healthy Dinner Number ONE!!!

Tonights dinner was the first of my experimental dinners.  

      I read an article a number of years ago that I certainly wish I still had now.  The point of the article was that people who have a tendency to be over weight need a great deal more flavor in their food than thin people need to feel good about what they are eating.  At the time, I thought that was a crock and the people around me salted their food with out tasting it and put extra sauces and things of that nature on the food that I had cooked them to be mean.  (Can't lie, I still think that personally) But now I also realize that this IS a true statement. 

     Apparantly the food that I have cooked all these years that I liked.. MANY people in my family thought was bland and tasteless. 

     Now that my husband has actually HAD a heart attack, I can get away with saying this is the food you HAVE to eat if you want to live. 

     However, I am trying extremely hard to understand what his head is going through.  When he had the stint placed 4 years ago and then had a minor scare 2 years ago, I let him get away with not changing any thing becuase his brain reacted to any change in his food as being punished.  This time, I have had to come to the realization that he is only going to change what he is going to change and I cant make him do ANYTHING as far as his health goes.  His focus is ,understandably, solely on himself at the moment and again I am seeing signs of my changing food on him as being a punishment. 

     This time,, however, I am reading all the research I can get my hands on to combat just giving up and letting him do what ever he chooses.  I am doing this for the sake of my boys, as well, who already have high cholesterol and other heart related issues at WAY too young of ages.  If I cant counter some of this now, I will out live my boys too. 

     So, in the research that I have read so far, I am finding that some scientiests are making a link between salt in food and the same receptors that are in play when some one is an opium addict.  Interesting,  I have read that to keep someone on a good heart healthy diet you need to use over the top spices and things like Lemon juice, to get the attention of their taste buds and the reward receptors in their brains. 

     Dont get me wrong out of this deal I would like to loose about 20 lb myself which would put me back to my weight before I had my 4th child.  I am doing what I am doing for my whole family, including me as I am not the perfect person either.  

     I have also read more research about the flavorful issue and have honestly come to the conclusion that the researchers on that subject ARE right.  I can stop eating and feel full with considerably less "flavor" and amount than many of the people I have observed around me who are obese.  I am not criticizing them in any way, I am stating a research fact of my own.  I do not feel the need to end a meal with anything sweet for desert, if I start craving sweets (and sometimes a candy bar or cookie IS just what the situation is called for) I get a glass of water and drink that before I get the candy.  Usually that takes the place of what ever my brain was thinking about.  I, however, see different behaviors in people I watch around me who are heavier than the charts say they should be.  I also see how some of these behaviors have crept in to my own eating habits.

     I do not LIKE my food to be very spicy and so to compromise over the issues my husband is having with his cholesterol and heart issues, I am working on finding new recipes that have a blend of strong flavors in them. 

TONIGHT I began my quest in ernest, with a recipe I found on line from a Low Fat Lifestyle website.  Pasta Putenesca   It was a meatless meal, 303 calories per serving, I do have to say, my whole family ate more than one serving each but at least the 7 g of fat per serving was better than what we normally have been eating.  We also had fresh spinach, with vinegar on it, and yellow squash, zucchini and onion, sliced and lightly sauteed in about 2 table spoons of olive oil.  We also ate some french bread sliced and lightly buttered along with it.  My boys ate at least 2 helpings of it as well as my husband whos main comment was, and this has NO meat in it at all.. Interesting.  I am going to try to do Meatless Mondays each week and yes I know this is not Monday, but Meatless Random Day of the Week is just too wordy.  I want to start carrying my camera to take pictures of our plated meals but I just feel a little wierd about it all. 

If anyone comes across my blog and wants to share any recipes with me as well that use low fat meats I would appreciate it.  ALLL of the choices out there for sample days worth of meals that I have found on low fat, or heart healthy, or low sodium ALL EVERY SINGLE ONE that I have found have fish for the evening meal.  I live in the desert and know that fish is good for me but every day??? That is just too much. 

What I really intended this blog to be, maybe

What I set out to do here was track my journey to better health.  My primary focus was going to be my apparant obsession with nutrition and health.  I guess that I have this idea of what I have wanted the people around me to want and believe that is unrealistic.  I have decided that I have to come to a place that I am ok with that.  I have several generations of people around me to "keep happy" as far as healthy lifestyle goes so I have to find a place to give them some choices in what my plan is but for ME to be able to stick to my plan for me.  I have for most of my adult life thought that I could get everyone else on board by just showing them how it could work.  I have to get ok with the idea that its fine for them to not want to be part of my plan because its for me, not for anyone else.  So, in light of all of these thoughts, I am going to spend part of my time here with my personal journey into healthy food and holistic living, beginning today.  What I have figured out is there are WAY too many ideas out there that are all the RIGHT and BEST idea out there for how we should eat to make any real choices.  I want it to be EASY.. something that will just go, "here, this is your plan for the next month of 3 meals a day with snacks and you will be on track"  I'm sure that there are those things out there but Im not finding them at least not what I invision.  So, this will be my journey to find those things. 
At this point in time, what I am looking for is a diet that will be healthy for my 15 year old, me, and for my husband who had a heart attack a month ago.  He in particular needs low fat, cholesterol lowering, and tasty. 
So, here I go.
I started out by reading on the internet an article from US NEWS that compared and contrasted a number of diets for this issue.  I am interested in the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes Diet, I have begun to enjoy Mediterranean food but being from the desert, I have a lot to learn about those kinds of foods and have been using as much from the Mayo Clinic Diet that I could "sneak in' to the rest of the family. 
This week, I will work on planning a whole 3 meal menu for 2 weeks to shop for and prepare.  It is the whole breakfast and lunch thing that I really struggle the most with.  I need things that can be packed and transported to be eaten later. 

So in this stream of consiousness that is happening here, I need to identify my problem exactally, so I can achieve a solution for it. 
This week, I am going to start with a few recipes that I have found that interest me.  Greek Pasta served with crusty warm bread and a fresh salad.   Grilled Portabello Mushrooms with I dont know what.  Pasta Puttanesca also served with warm bread and salad.  I want to bake the bread as well if I can get the time to do it.  Mostly because I enjoy baking bread and I need to find time to do things I enjoy doing.  I have a recipe for a low fat breakfast that I want to try as well called Chile Rellenos Casserole.  I will see what I find besides those. 

A Day at the Tucson Zoo

 A DAY AT THE ZOO

Going back through old pictures stored on my computer and I found all the ones I took at the Tucson zoo. That is a wonderful place, Just the right size for an outing. I had just gotten my camera for Christmas and was learning how to use it. The animals were amazingly interested in helping me try it out.

Elephants were having a great time trying to get their feed out of specially designed trash cans that they had to actually work for their food. I would imagine keeping elephants entertained is a major challenge at any zoo.

 One of my favorite pictures that I have ever taken.  I love "fuzzy lapies"  as my oldest daughter used to call them when she couldnt say llama.. They have pretty much  been fuzzy lapies ever since.

 Secretary Bird, I think.  I am pretty sure I need one of that kind of secretary.  Kid 4 says to deal with moms "bird brained schedule"

 I need THIS guy around my horse pens.  There are several aardvark fast food resturants that are HUGE nearby.  Several different flavors, I believe as well. 

 How very regal he looked.  He sat there just turning his head this way and that for "photo ops" for about 15 minutes for those who wished to photograph him.  What a colorful face.  I really would NOT like to meet him in a dark alley though.  We watched him later get the crew in line, 

 I have always wondered, if we humans eat enough shrimp, will WE turn such lovely colors?  I live in the desert and could not ever afford to fly in that much shrimp to try the experiment, I am afraid.. but if I ever win the lottery.. yep... you gonna see pink feathers on THIS girl.

 An albino peacock.. He was amazing.  We could never get him to spread his tail for us.  I wanted THAT picture. 

And to all.. a good night...

BABY SHOWER, HOW FUN!!!

Drop the pins in the cup after waddling across the room pretending to be preggo.. Hahaha that was funny for all. It was a relay race.



What creative friends.  A hand made baby quilt. It is so very soft as well.

My sweet grandson. .... NOT up to anything at all. 

What candy bar is in that diaper game. 

MY OLDEST DAUGHTERS BABY SHOWER!!!!   IT WAS SO MUCH FUN AND SO GOOD TO SEE HER. 

The decorations were so cute.  How creative these sweet girls were!

I wish I had thought to take a picture of all the ladies lined up together. 

I cant believe that I forgot to take pictures of the wonderful refeshments. 

 I sit- quietlyfrozen- watching cars go by.  There is diligance in the man hitting tennis ball after tennis ball.  I can barely see the sun setting beyond the trees.  How odd the lone palm tree seems towering about the mulberrys, the blooming yuccas, the chinese elm and the pine tree on either side.  It stands in complete silouette.  The Street lights are on for all the good they do. But, HEY, we can see the stars, right?  I feel kind of like that palm tree tonight.  No one to shelter me.  But I'm not enough to shelter those around me either.  I figured out tonight, that while attending therapy with my daughter, was not enough.  We got through the part where her therapist kept asking about different situations that were coming up..... What is the worst thing that could happen in this situation.  I believe now  that we got really good at coming up with worst case senarios but never got to the what to do about it part.  Im trying to go beyond the "WORST"  to what would I have to deal with IF that thing happened.  So far, there are not any good solutions.  Another big question that gets asked of me when I talk about things that are concerning me.... WHY do you let something like that bother you?  HEY, maybe its because I cant come up with any GOOD answers, have we thought of that?  Maybe its the lack of sleep that is getting to me.  Sleep is pretty elusive at the moment.  For one thing.. IF I go to sleep, I wake up very shortly with my heart pounding, and my gut twisting.  Then here comes one of those "THINGS" to be thought about. 
I figure tonight, 3 more loads of laundry to fold and put away, and 2 more to wash and I can try to hit the hay. 

More of my beautiful Southwest.           

Sunset in the Southwest.  Isnt it amazing?  The colors in the clouds. 



The biggest sky you can imagine! 



Its tough to grow around here and you have to know how to protect yourself... Prickly Pear Cactus.
So many options with this.  Rabbits chew on it for water in the dry times.  The fruit makes WONDERFUL
jelly. It grows like you wouldnt believe in the wet years.

Round Mountain, NM.  Mescalero Indian Reservation.  So much history, so many things to learn.  .

 

Round Mountain, NM.  Mescalero Indian Reservation.  So much history, so many things to learn.

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Round Mountain, NM. 
Mescalero Indian Reservation.  So much history, so many things to learn. 

Things on MY side of the mountain that make me happy.
This blossom is from my 4th of July rose bush!!! Does it remind you of fireworks too? 

This rose bush is quite old and has reverted to the wild rose but I just love it and it has blossomed more than I have ever seen before either.

Our cholla cactus is going nuts blooming!!!! 

This is my faux yucca.  It is special they tell me because it has both red flowers and yellow.

The blossoms on my Mexican Elder, cant wait till it has berries on it.

MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN RANGE FROM THE LAST GROUPING

In my world, you can see almost forever!!!

Harsh, desolate, godforsaken and even empty.  Those are words that I have heard used about my land.  Yes, it could be any or all of those things if you believe it.  I however see the beauty, abundance and strength of my land.  In my land you can see from horizon to horizon in the biggest, big sky country you could ever imagine. 

Sometimes, you just have to look underneath to see the beauty and new growth. 

Maybe, you just need to look UP to see the largeness of my land. 

Even in something that to others may look dead and useless, those of us in the desert can see beauty. 

My land may not be much to some people, but to me, its the world.